Refrigerator-building.



No. 742,540. PATENTED 001.2110113.

J. WILLs. REFRIGBRAToR BUILDING.

APPLIoATIoN FILED 13.27, 1901. No M0021.. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' No. 742,540. PATENTEDOGT. 27, 1903.

J. WILLS. REFRIGERATOR BUILDING.

APPLICATION FILED A1127, 1901. No HQ" 'Ll' ffil 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNITED STATES,

Patented october 27, 190s.

JAMES WILLs, 0E NEw'YoRK, N. Y.

REFRIGERATOR-BUILDING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent application tied April 27. 1901.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WILLs, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerator Rooms or Buildings, of which thc following is a speciication.

Heretofore in refrigeratin g plants and coldstorage buildings it has been customary where elevators were employed to convey merchandise from one iioor to another to provide a vestibule or anteroorn between the elevatorshaft and the cold rooms in order that the cold air in the latter compartment should not escape up or down the elevator-shaft while the entrance thereto-was open. This escape of the cold air was made possible because the cab did not lit the shaft and the shaft-openings with sufficient closeness to prevent a free and extensive movement of air at and around its sides or edges and also because during the Arush hours of business the doors between the rooms were often left open. To obviate these difficulties as much as possible, the anteroom was provided as a sort of air-lock or buffer, and the space so employed was by reason of the shifting temperature rendered useless for storage andwas consequently aloss of space. This room was also by reason of the differing temperatures wet and musty and always unsanitary. My present invention is designed to utilize this space and make it clean and wholesome; and to this end I make the cab practically air-tight, except the open face, and provide flexible flaps which bridge over and between the edges of the cab and the corresponding opening in the elevator-shaft. The result will be that while the cab is discharging or taking on goods theV air in the adjoining room cannot escape through or around it. The room and space heretofore rendered unavailable for storage purposes can thus be utilized.

I will proceed to describe my invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

Figure l represents a plan view of a part of a refrigerator-building. Fig. 2 is a front view of the elevator-cab, showing the airconning bridge-pieces applied. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same, taken on the line NO. 742,534.0,4 dated October 27, 1903.

Serial No. 571815. (No model.)

3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a'front view of the shaftopening, showing the bridgepieces placed thereon. This is an alternative construction. Y

In the drawings, A represents an elevatorshaft having openings B, corresponding with the various iioors of the building. Y

G is a cold-storage room, and D is a room through which the elevator-shaft is built and located'between the elevator-shaft and the cold-storage room for the purpose of providing au air-lock or buffer between the coldstorage room and the elevator-shaft. Doors E are provided between these rooms and doors F between the room D and the shaft A. I purpose in my present improved system to utilize this anteroom D as a part of the regular cold-storage space, and I refer to it here as anante-room or air-lock in order to explain the prior and present state ofthe art and to distinguish between the same and my present invention and method.

At G, I show the cab or car of the elevator. In one form of my invention, as shown in Fig. 2, I place around the edges of the open side I-I of the cab or car collapsible or exible extensions,of such size, arrangement, and structure that when the cab is contiguous to or covers an opening B in the elevator-shaft A the said extensions J will automatically close up or take up the space ordinarily left around the opening into the shaft between the cab and the floors or sides of the building and in such a manner that the cab itself being airtight,or approximately so, aside from theopen face, the cab will for the time being become a part of the roomD and all mechanical rush of the air through the cracks or spaces will be done away with. When, therefore, the cab or car comes into position before an opening in the elevator-shaft and the door or doors F, ordinarily placed between the shaft and the contiguous room, are opened, the spaces in the cab and in said room are simply merged temporarily. They become for the moment one room. Thus drafts and violent movements of the air into the elevator-shaft are avoided and the rooms or spaces contiguous to the shaft become available for storage purposes. This is the object of my invention.

In Fig. 4 I have shown another form in which the liexible bridging-pieces are placed IOO on the edges or frame of the openings B instead of on the cab. The result, however, is the same.

It will be seen that my invention not only prevents the cold air from rushing out, which has always been a source of substantial loss, but it also prevents an inrush of warm and moisture-laden air. This warm air is not only harm ful in itself, but deposits snow, which is4 very undesirable. In other words, the cab or car becomes a traveling part of the anteroom.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A refrigerator-building comprising two or more iioors, an elevator-shaft having openings at each oor, a closed elevator-car open at the front only, and fiexible bridging-pieces for surrounding the contiguous openings of the car and elevator-shaft to provide a vestibule for closing the space between the car andthe shaft-openings.

2. A refrigerator-building comprising two or more floors, each iioor having a storageroom, an anteroom, and an elevator-shaft having an opening into the anteroom, a closed 'elevator-car open at the front only, and ilexible bridging-pieces for surrounding the contiguous openings of the car and elevator-shaft to provide a vestibule for closing the space between the car and the shaft-openings into the anteroom.

3. A refrigerator-building comprising two or more fioors, each floor having a storageroom, an anteroom and an elevator-shaft extending through the anteroom and having an opening into the anteroom, a closed elevatorcar open at the front only, and flexible bridging-pieces for surrounding the contiguous openings of the car and elevator-shaft to provide a vestibule for closing the space between the car and the shaft-openings into the anteroolns.

4. A refrigerator-building comprising two or more floors, each iioor having a storageroom, an anteroom and an elevator-shaft having an openinginto the anteroorn, a closed elevator-car open at the front only, and iiexible bridging-pieces secured to the bottom,top,and sides of the car and for surrounding the contiguous openings of the car and elevator-shaft to provide a vestibule for closing the space between the car and the shaft-openings into the anterooms.

f JAMES WILLs. Witnesses:

FRANK A. HORNE, FRANK T. RANDELL. 

